A staggering civilian death toll worsens in Iraq and Syria

human rights monitoring group said that in 2014, nearly 18,000 civilians – including 3,500 children – were killed in Syria." />

A young boy eats at his family’s makeshift home in Kobani, Syria, in the buffer zone near the Turkish border. A <web,HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/02/world/middleeast/syrian-civil-war-2014-deadliest-so-far.html">human rights monitoring group said that in 2014, nearly 18,000 civilians</web> – including 3,500 children – were killed in Syria.
Jake Simkin
The Associated Press

Amid all the New Year’s revelry, it was easy to miss the sobering reports about how many civilians were slaughtered last year in Iraq and Syria.

This dire situation, however, ought to have our attention. The Obama administration should make sure that U.S. airstrikes are not part of the problem, and should also increase humanitarian aid.

To try to stop the Islamic State’s advance, President Barack Obama has sent 3,000 U.S. troops back into Iraq and ordered airstrikes in Syria. Those are half measures that won’t completely protect the civilian populations, but they are as far as either Congress or the public appear willing to go.

So the administration and the new Republican-controlled Congress ought to consider what more aid the United States can give to ease the civilian suffering. Already, the U.S. has been the biggest giver of humanitarian aid in Syria, more than $3 billion since 2011. It also gave more than $186 million in relief in Iraq in 2013-14.

For this year, the U.N. is seeking $7.2 billion just for Syria, part of a record global appeal of $16.4 billion. In fact, the world is in the middle of a refugee emergency unseen since World War II, with an estimated 51 million people displaced by violence.

The crisis is centered in Iraq and Syria. The U.N. estimates that 7.6 million Syrians have been displaced internally and another 3.2 million have become refugees in neighboring countries. More than 2 million Iraqis have been forced to flee from their homes.

While those conflicts are half a world away, we can’t turn a blind eye to the carnage that is happening. Wars, by nature, are horrible, but there’s a significant difference – one that should matter to us – between the deaths of fighters and of civilians caught in the crossfire.